The Topeka School

Abandoned at 45%.

Nonlinear stories are difficult for me. Especially one with very little story. The praise that I hear from this book has to do with the toxic masculinity/white privilege underlying messages. For that reason and that reason alone was what kept me reading for so long. The book was a mess and I wasn't able to get to know the characters except on a very superficial level. The events of one chapter had seemingly nothing to do with the surrounding chapters. I kept waiting for something to happen in the story, and from what I read in other reviews, nothing ever really happens or if it does at all, it is resolved quite disappointingly.

This book was not for me. I enjoyed the few lines and insights about toxic masculinity, which is why this is getting 2 stars instead of 1.

Quotes:

“that they are individuals, rugged even, but in fact they are emptied out, isolate, mass men without a mass, although they're not men, obviously, but boys, perpetual boys, Peter Pans, man-children, since America is adolescence without end, boys without religion on the one hand or a charismatic leader on the other”

“the real men—who are themselves in fact perpetual boys, since America is adolescence without end—had to differentiate themselves with violence,”

Eloquent writing? For sure.
My style? Not really.

I don't know if I fully get this story. There seems to be no shortage of threads you could tug at to reveal something deeper. There is the repeated theme of language pushed past the point of understanding, dissolving into near gibberish, incapable of imparting any sort of understanding. Is that a reflection of our current political discourse or the acceleration of information through social media dissolving into noise? How about testosterone filled teenaged boys living in the white affluence of the 90's affecting gangster poses while singing along to hardcore hiphop, the simmering anger lying just underneath the surface. Maybe it's just auto-fiction, the story of a Kansas poet being raised by two psychologist parents, Lerner's mother notably famous in her field.

What I do know is that I'd read Lerner writing about his experience walking to the local CVS. Citing these diverse themes makes it seem like it's heavy literary fiction that needs deep analysis to understand when it's just an incredibly good read. Lerner's got a poet's ear for language and an assured sense of his subjects. Can't wait to check out more from him.